Mideast mediators meet to save peace process

Mideast mediators meet Sunday in a bid to preserve U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite their looming failure to produce a deal by year's end.

With an agreement not in sight after nearly 12 months of negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press the two sides and fellow mediators to reaffirm their commitment to the peace process even after the end-of-the-Bush-administration deadline for a pact passes.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to present a report card on what they have achieved in secret discussions since the deadline was set at last November's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but are not expected to get into specifics, officials said.

Then the mediators are expected to give their blessing to continuing the Annapolis process, which sets out a multi-pronged approach to achieving peace that includes building up Palestinian institutions in anticipation of the creation of an independent Palestine.

Rice headed into the meeting after three days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories during which she acknowledged that the year-end deadline could not be met due to political uncertainty in Israel but insisted the process must continue and could succeed.

Israel will elect a new government on Feb. 10, and it is not clear if its new leadership will want to carry on with the talks that U.S. President George W. Bush will have turned over to President-elect Barack Obama's administration less than a month earlier.

On Saturday, Rice visited the former Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank to highlight Palestinian President's Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, one of few tangible successes in the slow-moving peace effort.

"Even under difficult circumstances ... this is a place of hope, this is a place of inspiration and ultimately a place from where the Palestinian state will spring up," said Rice, who hailed the West Bank town as a model for Palestinian self-governance.

Six years ago, Jenin endured some of the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Rice, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit, gushed over the town's return to relative calm since President Mahmoud Abbas' forces deployed there in the spring.

"That it could be reborn this way is in many ways an affirmation that nothing is impossible," she told reporters at a news conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad.

Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in more areas of the West Bank over the past year, going after criminals, vigilantes and Hamas militants, whose faction seized control of the Gaza Strip last year from Abbas' Fatah movement.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official on Saturday announced that his group was boycotting Palestinian reconciliation talks with Fatah set to begin in the Egyptian capital on Cairo on Sunday. The statement drew immediate criticism from Fayyad.

Jenin is seen as a test case and Rice and Fayyad said the state-building under way in Jenin cannot be separated from political negotiations that focus on the borders of a Palestinian state, control of Jerusalem and its holy sites, as well as the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Rice, on her eighth Mideast trip since the year-end deadline for peace was set last November, also met in Jenin with Palestinian security commanders and Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, a U.S. security envoy who is helping train the Palestinian forces.

Palestinians are concerned about continued Israeli arrest raids in areas under Abbas' control. Israel says Abbas' troops are not doing enough to rein in militants. Palestinian commanders complain that the Israeli raids undermine their authority.

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Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

State Department: http://tinyurl.com/676385

Mideast mediators meet to save peace process

Mideast mediators meet Sunday in a bid to preserve U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite their looming failure to produce a deal by year's end.

With an agreement not in sight after nearly 12 months of negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press the two sides and fellow mediators to reaffirm their commitment to the peace process even after the end-of-the-Bush-administration deadline for a pact passes.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to present a report card on what they have achieved in secret discussions since the deadline was set at last November's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but are not expected to get into specifics, officials said.

Then the mediators are expected to give their blessing to continuing the Annapolis process, which sets out a multi-pronged approach to achieving peace that includes building up Palestinian institutions in anticipation of the creation of an independent Palestine.

Rice headed into the meeting after three days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories during which she acknowledged that the year-end deadline could not be met due to political uncertainty in Israel but insisted the process must continue and could succeed.

Israel will elect a new government on Feb. 10, and it is not clear if its new leadership will want to carry on with the talks that U.S. President George W. Bush will have turned over to President-elect Barack Obama's administration less than a month earlier.

On Saturday, Rice visited the former Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank to highlight Palestinian President's Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, one of few tangible successes in the slow-moving peace effort.

"Even under difficult circumstances ... this is a place of hope, this is a place of inspiration and ultimately a place from where the Palestinian state will spring up," said Rice, who hailed the West Bank town as a model for Palestinian self-governance.

Six years ago, Jenin endured some of the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Rice, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit, gushed over the town's return to relative calm since President Mahmoud Abbas' forces deployed there in the spring.

"That it could be reborn this way is in many ways an affirmation that nothing is impossible," she told reporters at a news conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad.

Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in more areas of the West Bank over the past year, going after criminals, vigilantes and Hamas militants, whose faction seized control of the Gaza Strip last year from Abbas' Fatah movement.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official on Saturday announced that his group was boycotting Palestinian reconciliation talks with Fatah set to begin in the Egyptian capital on Cairo on Sunday. The statement drew immediate criticism from Fayyad.

Jenin is seen as a test case and Rice and Fayyad said the state-building under way in Jenin cannot be separated from political negotiations that focus on the borders of a Palestinian state, control of Jerusalem and its holy sites, as well as the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Rice, on her eighth Mideast trip since the year-end deadline for peace was set last November, also met in Jenin with Palestinian security commanders and Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, a U.S. security envoy who is helping train the Palestinian forces.

Palestinians are concerned about continued Israeli arrest raids in areas under Abbas' control. Israel says Abbas' troops are not doing enough to rein in militants. Palestinian commanders complain that the Israeli raids undermine their authority.

___

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

State Department: http://tinyurl.com/676385

Mideast mediators meet to save peace process

Mideast mediators meet Sunday in a bid to preserve U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite their looming failure to produce a deal by year's end.

With an agreement not in sight after nearly 12 months of negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press the two sides and fellow mediators to reaffirm their commitment to the peace process even after the end-of-the-Bush-administration deadline for a pact passes.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to present a report card on what they have achieved in secret discussions since the deadline was set at last November's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but are not expected to get into specifics, officials said.

Then the mediators are expected to give their blessing to continuing the Annapolis process, which sets out a multi-pronged approach to achieving peace that includes building up Palestinian institutions in anticipation of the creation of an independent Palestine.

Rice headed into the meeting after three days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories during which she acknowledged that the year-end deadline could not be met due to political uncertainty in Israel but insisted the process must continue and could succeed.

Israel will elect a new government on Feb. 10, and it is not clear if its new leadership will want to carry on with the talks that U.S. President George W. Bush will have turned over to President-elect Barack Obama's administration less than a month earlier.

On Saturday, Rice visited the former Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank to highlight Palestinian President's Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, one of few tangible successes in the slow-moving peace effort.

"Even under difficult circumstances ... this is a place of hope, this is a place of inspiration and ultimately a place from where the Palestinian state will spring up," said Rice, who hailed the West Bank town as a model for Palestinian self-governance.

Six years ago, Jenin endured some of the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Rice, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit, gushed over the town's return to relative calm since President Mahmoud Abbas' forces deployed there in the spring.

"That it could be reborn this way is in many ways an affirmation that nothing is impossible," she told reporters at a news conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad.

Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in more areas of the West Bank over the past year, going after criminals, vigilantes and Hamas militants, whose faction seized control of the Gaza Strip last year from Abbas' Fatah movement.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official on Saturday announced that his group was boycotting Palestinian reconciliation talks with Fatah set to begin in the Egyptian capital on Cairo on Sunday. The statement drew immediate criticism from Fayyad.

Jenin is seen as a test case and Rice and Fayyad said the state-building under way in Jenin cannot be separated from political negotiations that focus on the borders of a Palestinian state, control of Jerusalem and its holy sites, as well as the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Rice, on her eighth Mideast trip since the year-end deadline for peace was set last November, also met in Jenin with Palestinian security commanders and Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, a U.S. security envoy who is helping train the Palestinian forces.

Palestinians are concerned about continued Israeli arrest raids in areas under Abbas' control. Israel says Abbas' troops are not doing enough to rein in militants. Palestinian commanders complain that the Israeli raids undermine their authority.

___

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

State Department: http://tinyurl.com/676385

Mideast mediators meet to save peace process

Mideast mediators meet Sunday in a bid to preserve U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite their looming failure to produce a deal by year's end.

With an agreement not in sight after nearly 12 months of negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press the two sides and fellow mediators to reaffirm their commitment to the peace process even after the end-of-the-Bush-administration deadline for a pact passes.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to present a report card on what they have achieved in secret discussions since the deadline was set at last November's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but are not expected to get into specifics, officials said.

Then the mediators are expected to give their blessing to continuing the Annapolis process, which sets out a multi-pronged approach to achieving peace that includes building up Palestinian institutions in anticipation of the creation of an independent Palestine.

Rice headed into the meeting after three days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories during which she acknowledged that the year-end deadline could not be met due to political uncertainty in Israel but insisted the process must continue and could succeed.

Israel will elect a new government on Feb. 10, and it is not clear if its new leadership will want to carry on with the talks that U.S. President George W. Bush will have turned over to President-elect Barack Obama's administration less than a month earlier.

On Saturday, Rice visited the former Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank to highlight Palestinian President's Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, one of few tangible successes in the slow-moving peace effort.

"Even under difficult circumstances ... this is a place of hope, this is a place of inspiration and ultimately a place from where the Palestinian state will spring up," said Rice, who hailed the West Bank town as a model for Palestinian self-governance.

Six years ago, Jenin endured some of the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Rice, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit, gushed over the town's return to relative calm since President Mahmoud Abbas' forces deployed there in the spring.

"That it could be reborn this way is in many ways an affirmation that nothing is impossible," she told reporters at a news conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad.

Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in more areas of the West Bank over the past year, going after criminals, vigilantes and Hamas militants, whose faction seized control of the Gaza Strip last year from Abbas' Fatah movement.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official on Saturday announced that his group was boycotting Palestinian reconciliation talks with Fatah set to begin in the Egyptian capital on Cairo on Sunday. The statement drew immediate criticism from Fayyad.

Jenin is seen as a test case and Rice and Fayyad said the state-building under way in Jenin cannot be separated from political negotiations that focus on the borders of a Palestinian state, control of Jerusalem and its holy sites, as well as the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Rice, on her eighth Mideast trip since the year-end deadline for peace was set last November, also met in Jenin with Palestinian security commanders and Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, a U.S. security envoy who is helping train the Palestinian forces.

Palestinians are concerned about continued Israeli arrest raids in areas under Abbas' control. Israel says Abbas' troops are not doing enough to rein in militants. Palestinian commanders complain that the Israeli raids undermine their authority.

___

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

State Department: http://tinyurl.com/676385

Mideast mediators meet to save peace process

Mideast mediators meet Sunday in a bid to preserve U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite their looming failure to produce a deal by year's end.

With an agreement not in sight after nearly 12 months of negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press the two sides and fellow mediators to reaffirm their commitment to the peace process even after the end-of-the-Bush-administration deadline for a pact passes.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to present a report card on what they have achieved in secret discussions since the deadline was set at last November's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but are not expected to get into specifics, officials said.

Then the mediators are expected to give their blessing to continuing the Annapolis process, which sets out a multi-pronged approach to achieving peace that includes building up Palestinian institutions in anticipation of the creation of an independent Palestine.

Rice headed into the meeting after three days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories during which she acknowledged that the year-end deadline could not be met due to political uncertainty in Israel but insisted the process must continue and could succeed.

Israel will elect a new government on Feb. 10, and it is not clear if its new leadership will want to carry on with the talks that U.S. President George W. Bush will have turned over to President-elect Barack Obama's administration less than a month earlier.

On Saturday, Rice visited the former Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank to highlight Palestinian President's Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, one of few tangible successes in the slow-moving peace effort.

"Even under difficult circumstances ... this is a place of hope, this is a place of inspiration and ultimately a place from where the Palestinian state will spring up," said Rice, who hailed the West Bank town as a model for Palestinian self-governance.

Six years ago, Jenin endured some of the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Rice, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit, gushed over the town's return to relative calm since President Mahmoud Abbas' forces deployed there in the spring.

"That it could be reborn this way is in many ways an affirmation that nothing is impossible," she told reporters at a news conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad.

Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in more areas of the West Bank over the past year, going after criminals, vigilantes and Hamas militants, whose faction seized control of the Gaza Strip last year from Abbas' Fatah movement.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official on Saturday announced that his group was boycotting Palestinian reconciliation talks with Fatah set to begin in the Egyptian capital on Cairo on Sunday. The statement drew immediate criticism from Fayyad.

Jenin is seen as a test case and Rice and Fayyad said the state-building under way in Jenin cannot be separated from political negotiations that focus on the borders of a Palestinian state, control of Jerusalem and its holy sites, as well as the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Rice, on her eighth Mideast trip since the year-end deadline for peace was set last November, also met in Jenin with Palestinian security commanders and Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, a U.S. security envoy who is helping train the Palestinian forces.

Palestinians are concerned about continued Israeli arrest raids in areas under Abbas' control. Israel says Abbas' troops are not doing enough to rein in militants. Palestinian commanders complain that the Israeli raids undermine their authority.

___

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

State Department: http://tinyurl.com/676385

Mideast mediators meet to save peace process

Mideast mediators meet Sunday in a bid to preserve U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite their looming failure to produce a deal by year's end.

With an agreement not in sight after nearly 12 months of negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press the two sides and fellow mediators to reaffirm their commitment to the peace process even after the end-of-the-Bush-administration deadline for a pact passes.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to present a report card on what they have achieved in secret discussions since the deadline was set at last November's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but are not expected to get into specifics, officials said.

Then the mediators are expected to give their blessing to continuing the Annapolis process, which sets out a multi-pronged approach to achieving peace that includes building up Palestinian institutions in anticipation of the creation of an independent Palestine.

Rice headed into the meeting after three days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories during which she acknowledged that the year-end deadline could not be met due to political uncertainty in Israel but insisted the process must continue and could succeed.

Israel will elect a new government on Feb. 10, and it is not clear if its new leadership will want to carry on with the talks that U.S. President George W. Bush will have turned over to President-elect Barack Obama's administration less than a month earlier.

On Saturday, Rice visited the former Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank to highlight Palestinian President's Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, one of few tangible successes in the slow-moving peace effort.

"Even under difficult circumstances ... this is a place of hope, this is a place of inspiration and ultimately a place from where the Palestinian state will spring up," said Rice, who hailed the West Bank town as a model for Palestinian self-governance.

Six years ago, Jenin endured some of the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Rice, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit, gushed over the town's return to relative calm since President Mahmoud Abbas' forces deployed there in the spring.

"That it could be reborn this way is in many ways an affirmation that nothing is impossible," she told reporters at a news conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad.

Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in more areas of the West Bank over the past year, going after criminals, vigilantes and Hamas militants, whose faction seized control of the Gaza Strip last year from Abbas' Fatah movement.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official on Saturday announced that his group was boycotting Palestinian reconciliation talks with Fatah set to begin in the Egyptian capital on Cairo on Sunday. The statement drew immediate criticism from Fayyad.

Jenin is seen as a test case and Rice and Fayyad said the state-building under way in Jenin cannot be separated from political negotiations that focus on the borders of a Palestinian state, control of Jerusalem and its holy sites, as well as the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Rice, on her eighth Mideast trip since the year-end deadline for peace was set last November, also met in Jenin with Palestinian security commanders and Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, a U.S. security envoy who is helping train the Palestinian forces.

Palestinians are concerned about continued Israeli arrest raids in areas under Abbas' control. Israel says Abbas' troops are not doing enough to rein in militants. Palestinian commanders complain that the Israeli raids undermine their authority.

___

Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

State Department: http://tinyurl.com/676385